WHA?????

Holy Bowl-Me-Over, Batman!

I was lying in bed this morning, when I heard someone rustling around with backpacks.  This usually means that one child or another is trying to sneak a toy to school.  I dragged my carcass out of bed to investigate. 

That's when I saw it.

My son.   MAKING HIS LUNCH FOR SCHOOL.  I nearly fainted.

Me: "Colby, what are you doing?"
Colby: "Making my lunch."
Me: "Uhhhhhh, good job!  I'll get your breakfast ready."
Colby: "I already made my own breakfast, Mom.  I'm done eating."
Me: "OK.  I'll get your vitamins."
Colby: "I got my own, Mom."  And he stuck a Barney Rubble out of his mouth. 
Me: "So... I'll find your clothes."
Colby: "I'm already dressed, see?"  Oh yeah.  He was.  In clean, temperature-appropriate, matching clothes.   "It's gym class today, so I wore sweats.  And I'm wearing a t-shirt under my sweatshirt in case I get too warm at recess".

So, with nothing to do, I got out his backpack and went through his papers from yesterday.  Both boys have been struggling with the adjustment to third grade.  Imagine my shock when I pulled out 9 papers.... 8 A's, and 1 B.  WOW.

Me: "Well, buddy... the only thing you forgot was your coat at school!"
Colby: "Turn around Mom.  It's right behind you."

I think I'm still asleep, dreaming.  Honestly.  Wasn't it just yesterday that I was literally in tears, feeling like a failure as a mother?   And here is this awesome kid.  Making my morning, my day, my year.  A complete and total answer to prayer, young man. 

Something cool I just Learned How to Do

In His Own World

Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner last night, to belatedlly celebrate Grandma LaVerne's birthday.  After dinner, Quinn asked if he could spend the night with G&G, and they said yes.  He went upstairs, got into bright red footie pajamas, and I loudly and repeatedly "reminded" him to brush his teeth, pack a bag of clothes for church in the morning, and get shoes on.   Colby was watching a cartoon on the computer, and Quinn - between his mother's incessant nagging - was watching with him.  When Grandma and Grandpa left (with Quinn), Colby said good bye.  Then he got ready for bed, brushed his teeth, and fell asleep in the room he shares with his brother.  This morning, he got up, got dressed, and we all piled in the car to go to church.

It was at THIS moment that Colby said .... "HEY!  We forgot Quinn!"

Rob and I looked at each other, thinking he MUST be joking.

Mom: "Well, if he's not ready for church, then he needs to be left here alone.  Keep driving dad." 

Colby was distraught.  So I eased up on him.

Mom: "Colby, did you see Quinn last night in your bedroom?"

Colby: "Yes."

Mom: "Did you see him when you woke up this morning?"

Colby: "Yes.  Well.... uh....."

Good Gracious.  It's called situational awareness, child.  Normally the boy can't go 30 seconds without being with his brother, and then the one time he is gone for an entire NIGHT, Colby doesn't even notice??? 

A Chip Off The Old Block

Colby brought some school work home that hadn't gotten done while at school.  I asked him why he didn't finish.

Colby: "We're supposed to write a story about a scarecrow."
Quinn: "I finished mine at school.  The scarecrow walked through the woods and scared the birds.  THE END."
Sounds like an easy-enough assignment. 
Colby: "Mom, I didn't have TIME to finish!"

COLBY'S story is about a scarecrow during a world war in 1922, who was really poor at firing a gun, but excellent with a knife.  During a battle he found a magic Power Stone which allowed him entrance into a Wizarding school.  CHAPTER TWO - the Power Stone was being sought by an evil villain........

Colby: "There's going to be 43 chapters, and I'm only on chapter TWO!  I couldn't finish that at school!"

Oh, little man.  You have inherited your mother's wordiness, and the curse of "dreaming bigger than you are capable of completing".  We're going to have to find a way to wrap up the evil villain's plot with the Power Stone pretty quickly, methinks. 

Secretly, though.... I'm really proud of his imagination.  What DOES happen with that scarecrow???

Big Heads

Quinn: "Mom, I'm so handsome."

Mom: "What??"

Colby: "We both are. I'm handsome, too. "

Mom: "Well you're definitely not humble. Who told you that you were handsome?"

Quinn: "Uhhhh, no one. I looked in the mirror. I can see my own reflection. "

Colby: "Sometimes I stare at myself for HOURS. I'm in LOVE with myself."

Mom: "Oh good grief. "

Independence

As much as I grieve the intractable aging of my children, I have to admit that I enjoy that they're now big enough to DO things. You know, like help me move a table, or climb a tree to pick the apples at the top.

This school year, the boys are making their own lunches, getting dressed independent, and feeding themselves breakfast. What before was a 35 minute nag-fest each morning is now a 15 minute "what do we do until the bus comes?" dream. Of course, it's only the second day of school, and evil snow clothes are not in the mix.... But I have hope!!!

Snippets From The Road

Recently got back from a trip out west, where we spent a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNGGGG time in the car.  The kids did great.  Made me laugh a time or two from the driver's seat.

Reagan: "Mom, do flowers tickle heaven?"
-----------------------------------
Quinn: "Why can't men have babies?
-----------------------------------
Colby, my navigator, had his own pronunciations for places on the map.  My favorites were "Frango" and "Suck Falls" North Dakota.   Once we hit Fargo ("Frango"), Colby closed the map, leaned back with his hands behind his head, and said "Relax, Mom.  You don't have to turn again til we get to Grandma's and Grandpa's!"  He's right - that last 20 hours or so was pretty much a straight shot.
-----------------------------------
Quinn (somewhere around Billings, MT) :  "Next time, Mom?  Just buy a plane ticket."
----------------------------------------
Reagan: "Mom, whatcha doin'?"
Mom: "Driving.  What are you doing?"
Reagan: "Jamming my toe in this dvd."
-------------------------------------------
Reagan: "Where are we going?"  (repeated approximately 6 zillion, 45 million and 2 times)
Mom: "You know where we're going.  You tell me."
Reagan: "Take a guess, Mom."
---------------------------------------------
Quinn: "Why are girls with black hair such hot chicks?"
Mom: "Quinn, I don't even know how to BEGIN to answer that question."
Quinn: "It's because their hair absorbs heat!"
----------------------------------------
Mom: "Quinn!  Don't hit your sister!"
Quinn: "She hit me first!"
Mom: "You're bigger than she is.  Plus, you never hit girls."
Quinn: "Why not?  We're the same species."
------------------------------------------------